IMPACT OF LAND USE/LAND COVER CHANGES ON GROUNDWATER LEVEL USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS: A CASE STUDY IN RAJSHAHI DISTRICT

One of the most serious anthropogenic changes to the environment is urbanization. In the past few decades, there has been significant concern about how urbanization is affecting groundwater. Moreover, urbanization is increasing impervious areas causing less infiltration, which thus has an imperative impact on groundwater storage. Therefore, this study seeks to understand the influence of changes in land use and land cover (LULC) from 2002 to 2022 on groundwater levels in the Rajshahi area. Utilizing Geographical Information System (GIS) and statistical tests, a thorough analysis of long-term groundwater trends and spatiotemporal variations was conducted using data collected from 9 observation wells over a 20-year period. The findings point to an 89.5% increase in impervious built-up areas and a 29% reduction in vegetated land cover. On the other hand, Maan Kendall Test indicates that 55.55% have a strong inverse correlation with vegetation and 44.44% have a strong correlation with urban areas. That means as the rate of vegetation decreases, the groundwater level is declining day by day. In the same way, the built-up area prevents infiltration and also affects groundwater level significantly. These results underscore the crucial impact of both reduced vegetation and increased urbanization on declining groundwater levels in the northwestern region of Bangladesh as well as it will be further helpful for concerned authorities to take relevant actions